SERMON L. The Lord's-day, or Christian Sabbath. GEN. íi. 3.--And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. IN the history of the creation of the world and the beginning of mankind, Moses gives us an Account of the appointment of a Sabbath, or one day in seven that should be sanctified or separa- ted from the common affairs of this life, devoted to the purposes of religion, and receive a peculiar blessing from God. I think it cannot reasonablybe supposed, as some writers have done, that the sacred historian would take such special notice in this place of a certain day, which was not appointed at that time, but which should be appointed and sanctified and blessed among the Jews two thousand four hundred years afterwards. It is pro- bable that the most ancient patriarchs did, according to this early appointment observe it as a day of rest from labour and of the worship of God, their Creator. And it is very evident that if it were lost among the nations, it was renewed again by Moses to the people of Israel, with many particular sanctions : and there is still one day in seven continues in the New Testa- ment to be a day of christian worship, observed by the apos- tles and first disciples. So that upon the whole survey of the dispensations of God to men, as they are, recorded in the bible, " t it seems highly probable, that there is some sabbath or one day in seven divinelyappointed both for the rest of man and the worship of God, which has run throughall dispensations both before and after Moses, and which must remain to the end of the world." It is impossible, in the compass of one short sermon, torun through all the reasonings* that are necessary to confirm this doctrine; yet that I may give some short hints toward the proof of a sabbath running through all ages, I desire you will consider the following particulars : 1. " What was the time when the first appointment of a sabbathwas given to men, and who were the persons to whom For these reasonings see '4 The Holiness of Times, Places and Persons under the Jewishand Christian Dispensation Considered and Compared."
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